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Zone 7
Here are a cluster of 3-4 km high iceberg mountains called Norgay Montes.
They must be frozen water ice as nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide can't develop into strong enough structures to support their weight and retain steep angular ridge lines as seen here. Frozen ice develops a strong crystalline structure that could stand 3-4 km high at Pluto's gravity. Pluto's gravity is far less than earths. Acceleration of gravity on Earth . . 9.807 m/s2 |
Acceleration of gravity on Pluto . . 0.583 m/s2 . . . 5.94% of the figure on Earth. A man who weighs 200 pounds on Earth would weigh 11 pounds 14.2 ounces on Pluto. The equatorial surface gravity of Pluto is 0.58 m/s^2. its escape velocity is 1.2 km/s or 2,684 mph.
NASA is suggesting there are two volcanoes near the bottom of this image. Later on I go into detail to explain why these are not cryovolcanoes.
NASA is suggesting there are two volcanoes near the bottom of this image. Later on I go into detail to explain why these are not cryovolcanoes.
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Click this Youtube video by Mattias Malmer to see a beautiful 360 degree rendering of this theoretical "volcano" on Pluto called Wrights Montes.
This land is soft as there is only one impact crater meaning this surface has been recently renewed. The icebergs on the right appear to be colliding with this softened land, in turn pushing it up into a mound we call Wright Montes. |
Initial conclusions
What appears to be happening is the nitrogen flow is floating mountains of icebergs toward the edges of Sputnik Planum. These ice mountains are pressing into the land ice along the edges of the nitrogen flow shaping and deforming the land ice into ripples. These large ice blocks may be large broken blocks of crust which is getting pressed and folded onto the mud like softened land ice. This pressing is caused by the nitrogen fluid fracturing folding and rolling large blocks onto the land. The similar buoyancy of nitrogen to water ice is so close that it is unlikely the 2 mile high ice blocks are not supported by subsurface bedrock.
On earth some volcanoes are created by a process of two colliding land masses one slides under the other creating magma which in turn bubbles up to the surface causing volcanoes. This process looks as if the land ice has said enough is enough (you shall not pass) and this struggle has created theoretical "volcanoes". Here in zone 7 the nitrogen flow is, migrating around the mounds called "volcanoes".
On earth some volcanoes are created by a process of two colliding land masses one slides under the other creating magma which in turn bubbles up to the surface causing volcanoes. This process looks as if the land ice has said enough is enough (you shall not pass) and this struggle has created theoretical "volcanoes". Here in zone 7 the nitrogen flow is, migrating around the mounds called "volcanoes".
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This whole scene looks like the tsunami that rolled over Japan in 2011.
The fluid is overrunning the landscape, fracturing land ice into vast chunks. These chunks appear to be pushed up onto the muddy soggy bog of land ice. There are no impact craters in this area indicating this rippled muddy land ice is soft enough to swallow impacts then close over without showing any evidence of the impact. The surface ices in this area are soft and young churned over by the nitrogen ocean of fluid running ashore. |
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